The Northern railway line branches
northward from the main line at Polgahawela,
passing Kurunegala, the
capital of Wayamba Province, before
continuing to the historic cultural and
religious centre of Anuradhapura.
This city was established in the 4th
century B.C. and contains many sites
of religious and archaeological interest.
The service which is now curtailed
by the Ceylon Government Railway,
was considered the most important
transport facility for travellers to and
from Colombo. The major factor that
contributed to the increasing number
of train travellers, with the increase
of population, was the non-availability
of other modes of transport other
than carts to compete the railway
transport during this period.

The Northern line was built by the
British to serve several purposes.
While they wanted to end the isolation
of the Jaffna peninsular and link
it with the rest of the country, they
also wanted to minimise the high
death toll among the immigrant Indian
labourers, because of the arduous
journey from Mannar to the Kandyan
province. Another reason was that the
Indian labourers were responsible for
spreading diseases like cholera and
small pox to adjoining villages in the
North and North-Central province of
Sri Lanka.

The British appointed a Commission
in 1877 to look into the feasibility
of the Jaffna railway line. The Commission
proposed extending the rail
track from Polgahawela to Jaffna.
Work began to extend the track to
Kurunegala, in 1891.The track was
opened on February 14, 1893. In 1903
work began on the extension of the
track to Anuradhapura.

A rail track
between Kankesanthurai and Chavakachcheri
was laid on March 10,
1902 and it was extended to Palaly by
September of that year. Work then
commenced to link the track to Anuradhapura.
The Talaimannar line extended towards
the North West from Madawachchiya.
By 1912 the bridge that
linked Mannar to the main land was
completed. On February 24, 1914 the
Indo- Lanka Railway Service commenced.
The transport facilities provided
by the Northern railway not only enabled
the majority of Indian labourers
to migrate en masse with their
families, but also saved the lives of
both labourers and villagers in the
North Central Province, since the
spread of infectious diseases could be
prevented as the immigrants no longer
had contact with the population
in the North Central Province.

The creation of the Northern line
acted as a catalyst for social change.
It linked communities, ended the
isolation of Jaffna, broke down social
tradition, caste prejudices, and
also spread new ideas and customs.
For the first time newspapers from
Colombo were available to all, which
helped to increase the reading habits
of the people and broaden their
outlook.. This also led to the growth
of education since people in Jaffna
could send their children to Colombo
or vice versa.

Canadian M2 locomotives

The Canadian governmentoriginally planned to donateonly five of these engines in 1954under the Colombo plan. Theseengines were manufactured byGeneral Motors Canada. TheSri Lankan government namedthese locomotives after severalCanadian provinces. Painted inblue and silver 14 of these wereimported in batches from 1954onwards.

It is said that some Canadianswere not too happy by the factthat names of only five provinceswere used. Learning about this,B.D. Rampala, the Chief MechanicalEngineer asked Sir John Kotelawela,who was the Ministerof Transport to ask the CanadianGovernment to increase thenumber of engines from five M2or G12 locomotives to 14 locomotivesso that the names of all Canadianprovinces could be used .The ploy worked and the Canadiansgave us 14 locomotives.

Regarded as the most reliablelocomotives even after 50 years,almost all the engines are stillrunning.

Of these, Diesel Electric Saskatchewanwas destroyed by a bomb explosion and No 591 Manitobawas destroyed by the 2004 tsunami.

Yal Devi - Queen of express trains

By Rathindra Kuruwita@ The Nation , 02 March, 2008

Yal Devi made her maiden journeyon April 23, 1956, with two other trains,Udarata Menike and Ruhunu Kumariand because of this many, Sri Lankansconsidered them as three sisters.

Trains no longer arrive at theJaffna railway station. The familiar‘kuchu kuchu’ of locomotive enginesand the ‘hoooooo’ of their whistles,no longer rent the air. Porters are extinct.Taxis are conspicuous by theirabsence. Because, the Yal Devi goes nofurther than Vavuniya.

Times have changed. The Yal Deviwas not destined to terminate its journeyat this tiny railway station in themiddle of nowhere. It was to stop atthe great Jaffna station. It was meantto link Colombo with the northernmost city, Jaffna. To connect two differentcultures, Sinhala and Tamil.

To take kalu dodol from the south andbring back thal hakuru and karthakolomban.It is a past that Mailwahanam Vipulaskandharemembers well. This retiredstation master, who grew up nearthe Jaffna railway station, reminiscedon the hustle and bustle of the oncebusy Jaffna railway station and the expresstrain to the north, Yal Devi.“Yal Devi commenced its journeyin the 1950s. As a boy growing up inJaffna, I remember all the commotionwhich took place at the Jaffna stationwhen the Yal Devi arrived,” he said.“In its heyday, Jaffna railway stationwas the second largest station. Theporters rushed to the platform readyto put the luggage on their heads. Thetea-boys were ready with their kettles,and the vendors of vadai switched ontheir kerosene stoves,” he remembers.

Yal Devi made her maiden journeyon April 23, 1956, with two other trains,Udarata Menike and Ruhunu Kumariand because of this many, Sri Lankansconsidered them as three sisters.

Many factors led to the launch ofthese three ‘express’ trains. Not only didthe government want to expand the passengertransport network of the CeylonGovernment Railway (CGR) but alsoshow the general public of their detachmentfrom the colonial past and theirability to outdo the British. The timetablesof the three trains were arrangedso that a commuter who boards the RuhunuKumari from Matara after breakfastwould reach Jaffna for dinner.

Although all three trains were calledexpress trains, Vipulaskandha assuresus that, compared with the Yal Devi, theother two were insignificant. “Easilyidentified by its white and blue colourscheme, with its name boldly paintedacross the length of the carriages, inall three languages, the Yal Devi wasthe queen of express trains. That’s whythey always gave her platform number1.

It always left Fort railway station, precisely,at 5:45 each evening, packed. As akid, I have travelled on that train manytimes. I remember the train leaving therailway station after giving a mightyholler. I also remember children of myage trying to imitate the noise of the engine,”Vipulaskandha said.

Blazing through Travelling a distance of 409 kms(256 miles) it only stopped at the “big”stations such as Ragama junction, PolgahawelaJunction, Kurunegala, MahoJunction, Anuradhapura, MedawachchiyaJunction, Vavuniya, ElephantPass, Jaffna and Kankesanthurai. Itmade this long journey in express time,often passing regular trains that startedlong before she did.

“The train raced at speeds in excessof 45mph, past small stationsthat dotted the northern line, withoutslowing down. This often remindedme of an arrogant belle who ignoressuitors she thought not worthy of herattention,” he said.

Vipulaskandha recalled an idyllic era when the Sinhalesewould flock to Jaffna on festiveoccasions, visit local taverns, imbibepalmyrah toddy, eat masala dosai andprawns, indulge in karthakolombanfor dessert and visit Nallur KandaSwami Kovil and Naga Devale. “WhenI started working at the CGR, manySinhala friends visited me. We usedour CGR credentials to book the observationcarriage, to escape from beingsandwiched and squashed by thethousands of passengers,” he said.

End of a journey But now, all that has changed. TheYal Devi does not go beyond Vavuniya.The decades-old civil strife put anend to Yal Devi’s journey to Jaffna inthe early 1990s. The once grand Jaffnarailway station is now in ruins andthe train itself carries only a handfulof compartments, and Vipulaskandhatold me that even these are almostempty after Anuradhapura.“The train stops at the single-platformVavuniya station.

The charges for Elephant Pass, Jaffna and Kankesanthuraiare still displayed at thestation. But everyone knows that thisis the end of the line,” he saidEven though the Yal Devi stoppedgoing to Jaffna in 1990, Vipulaskandhasaid that the beginning of theend started much earlier. “Because ofthe insurgency, people stopped commutingby train. In the mid 1980s, thetrack was removed at several points,but the Indian army laid it back. Butonly a few people travelled by train,when the Indian army left and theLTTE captured several sections of thenorthern line. That was the end of theYal Devi’s journey to Jaffna,” he said.All downhill

It was all downhill after that. Althoughit is still an express train, it nolonger whizzes past other trains. Nowit stops at every station after MahoJunction and is no longer the trimand proper belle that it once was. Thecompartments are old and untidy. Itsonce magnificent restaurant is nowreduced to a counter that serves weirdlooking, awful smelling short-eats. Itstoilets are unusable. Porters do notflock the platform when the train arrives.‘Tuk-tuk’ drivers hardly carefor the passengers the Yal Devi nowbrings.

“The Yal Devi has grown old andlike an old woman, it travels slowlyand shakily, stopping to rest at everystation,” Vipulaskandha said.Because the train no longer arrivesat the Jaffna railway station.

My uncle worked at the CGR in the1960s and is a friend of Vipulaskandha.Although he never worked onthe northern line, he has travelledseveral times to Jaffna by Yal Devi.Sometimes, he recounts tales of Jaffna,to me. Of the karthakolomban,prawns, Naga Devale and the majesticYal Devi. Whenever I remember thesestories, I wish I could travel to Jaffnaby train and enjoy the city, the way myuncle did. But, I know I can’t, becausetrains no longer arrive at the Jaffnarailway station.

Growing up near the Jaffnarailway station in the 1950s,Mailwahanam Vipulaskandhaalways dreamt of joining theCeylon Government Railway(CGR) and becoming a stationmaster. One must rememberthat at this time the CGR was atits zenith. Station masters andengine drivers lived like royalty,living in comfortable railwayquarters and served by anassortment of servants.“I always wanted to join theCGR and my dream came truein 1967 when I joined as an assistantstation master. I wassent to the railway trainingschool and then was posted toBatticaloa in 1969. After one ortwo years I went to Vavuniya.After that most of my servicewas in the Northern line,” hesaid.From 1970 he worked as a reliefstation master in the northernline working in stationslike Chunnakam, Anuradhapura,KKS, Mankulam, Vavuniyaand Madu. “As a relief stationmaster I have worked all overthe Northern line,” he said.Although the late 1960s and1970s were a time of peace, theNorthern line was a pleasantplace to work in. But thingsbegan to gradually deterioratein the 1980s. When violence escalatedbetween governmenttroops and armed groups, railwayofficers like Vipulaskandhawere trapped in the middle.Violence and assassination becamea part of daily life.It was while working at theMadu railway station in themid 1980s that Vipulaskandhafaced what he calls, the mosttraumatic experience of hislife. “I was working at Madustation in 1985 as the relief stationmaster. Unlike today, backthen, there was a small Sinhalacommunity living in Madu.There was a Sinhala school aswell, the Madu Maha Vidyalaya.Several of my porters toowere Sinhalese. One day severalmembers of an armed groupcame to the station draggingtwo Sinhala women to the station.They shot the two womenin front of my own eyes. Thenthey came to my room andasked me whether there wereany Sinhalese people workingin the station. I said ‘no’. Thenthey went away,” he said with ashudder.Little did the gunmen knowthat Vipulaskandha was concealingone of his Sinhaleseporters behind his chair. “Whenthey came in and talked to me,one of the Sinhala porters washiding behind the chair I wasseated on. I was trying to playcool although I was very scared.If the armed assailants realisedthat I was hiding someone fromthem they would have killedboth of us on the spot. It wasthe most horrific experience Ihave been through, althoughI’m glad I was able to save a life.Now that boy is a man in hislate 30s. He still keeps in touchwith me and comes to see mefrom time to time,” he said.Although he’s now retiredfrom the CGR, Vipulaskandhastill has fond memories of theNorthern railway line and itslegendary train Yal-Devi. “Ispent my youth working at thenorthern line. I have also seenthe Yal-Devi speeding like a bulleton that line. I wish that mychildren could one day go toJaffna travelling on the Northernline in that magnificenttrain,” he said. (RK)